2006 was a fantastic year in so many ways but one incredible statistic to share was the readership growth of our weblog. We started the Executive Edge weblog http://blog.premierstrategies.com as a companion site to our email newsletters in Q2-2006. We’ve received fantastic feedback over the helpful information in the e-newsletters over the past few years. Our in-house email list has grown to just over 8,500 business owners, executives and professionals. We never had a place to archive those articles and resources online for others to find online and use. With the weblog, we do.

Enter the world of the weblog. We use www.wordpress.com It’s made it so much easier and faster to write, share and contribute articles online, posting them to the weblog. We then then simply share with you a shorter, briefer compilation email each month that indexes our recently published resources. You can visit anytime and see any past articles or links.

The growth in readership has been incredible. Primarily because now all of that content is indexed by Google. This pulls in a significant number of new visitors and readers to not only the weblog but our website. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who is looking to improve their personal or professional profile in a particular market. I believe it could be a very rewarding experience for you or your organization

As many of you know, in 2007, we will be focusing much more of our time on developing our portfolio companies and helping them expand nationwide. Premier will still maintain some select few consulting relationships with clients in the areas of internet marketing - but most of our energy will be directed towards these new initiatives such as www.statenewslines.com.

We’ll be announcing our expansion into several other states very soon. This week we’re bringing online the national website which allows you to visit any single state’s news aggregation site. We’ll be setting up a new email newsletter to keep you updated from time to time on the progress of the national rollout.

We’ve added an additional 20 news sources, including daily feeds for updated legislative news as well as additional sports news. Readership is surging each month and for members - you now have an incredible drag and drop personalization screen that lets you organize where each news source is placed on your screen. Also the daily headline clipping service everyone is excited to have available will be online soon.

Beginning again in February - the iPod contest will return after much request! Be sure to visit the site and enjoy having all of your West Virginia news headlines and article links on one easy-to-use web page!

There have been so many exciting things happen in the past couple months.  We've launched www.wvnewsline.com statewide and are in the process of launching www.statenewslines.com nationwide.  It's just been a breathtaking pace the past several weeks, with the holiday, new year and kicking off so many new things in January, that our regular postings have taken a back seat. 

I'll be kicking off a whole new series of articles this month for the weblog - mostly focusing on entrepreneurship, business growth, and technology and trends that can drive your business forward.  In every instance - most all of the articles and resources shared come from my own readings, experiences and insights gained each day on the frontlines of entrepreneurship with our own companies.

Thank you for your continued interest, readership and support. And may 2007 be the year of your dreams!
- Paul Helmick